Son wants Raymond chief Singhania's prime Mumbai property attached

Seven years after a three-way division of family properties by an arbitrator, Madhupati Singhania, estranged son of Vijaypat Singhania, wants Kamla cottage, the prime Juhu property of the Raymond chief attached, "furniture, fixtures, fittings and all" to recover his share of Rs 3 crore.TNN | October 23, 2015, 08:43 IST

"The grandchildren feel that they too have a right to the properties, and that it can't be denied by their parents through an agreement."MUMBAI: Seven years after a three-way division of family properties by an arbitrator, Madhupati Singhania, estranged son of Vijaypat Singhania, wants Kamla cottage, the prime Juhu property of the Raymond chief attached, "furniture, fixtures, fittings and all" to recover his share of Rs 3 crore.

The bungalow is "perhaps" still in Vijapat's possession, he said, even though the arbitrator said it should be vacated by the family's Mumbai branch and handed over to the Kolkata branch. The Singhania family has a third branch, from Kanpur. Vijaypat resides at Bhulabhai Desai Road.

Madhupati, whose four children had moved the Bombay high court in February to seek annulment of a 17-year-old family arrangement, under which their parents had written off claims over family assets, had separately moved the HC for execution of the arbitral award. Former Supreme Court judge, Justice S N Variava, was the sole arbitrator, appointed by the apex court in a 1992 dispute between the family. He had on August 4, 2008, ordered that the Juhu property, with seven members of the Mumbai group, would be handed over to the Kolkata group, when they pay Rs 46 crore, to be divided equally by the Mumbai and Kanpur branches. Madhupati's share from the Rs 23 crore came to a little over Rs 3 crore.

The bungalow is a veritable museum, say members close to the Madhupati family, full of highly valuable art, artefacts and furniture worth crores.

Madhupati's plea was earlier opposed as being delayed and time-barred — beyond three years — but he denied delay as he had been informed that it was registered only at the end of 2014.

Madhupati said he had left Mumbai for Singapore, 16 years ago in 1999, following a family agreement which his daughters Ananya (29), Rasaalika (26) and Tarini (20), and son, Raivathari (18), are now questioning as being "unfair and legally invalid".

The award was upheld by Justice Anoop Mohta of the HC in 2009, when it was challenged by the Bombay and Kanpur branches. Vijaypat and six others, including Madhupati, were the petitioners from Mumbai. Madhupati says now he was unaware of proceedings or appeals against the award.

His plea for attachment is to ensure that the property is vacated, attached and sold to recover Rs 3 crore as he abided by the award even though the others had not.

The SC had earlier observed that the three branches are each entitled to one-third share in immovable properties.

Vijaypat, Madhupati and five others from the Bombay group were allotted Kamla Retreat (Rs 9.62 crore), Hiraman Purwa (Rs 2 crore), Oil Mills land (over Rs 8 crore) in Kanpur. Since they were allotted properties worth Rs 20.15 crore but were entitled to assets worth Rs 43.5 crore, the Kolkata group would have to give Rs 23.4 crore when it handed over possession of the Juhu property.